This disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.
Conventionally, in an office, such as a company office, a business office, and the like, data, such as a document, and the like, is managed in a unified manner by an image forming apparatus, and a user inputs and outputs data to and from a personal computer connected thereto via a local area network (LAN), or the like, and thus, performs printing of necessary data.
In such an image forming apparatus, there is a possibility that any user may see and print data managed by the image forming apparatus, and therefore, a problem of leakage of confidential document and confidential information arises.
In order to solve the above-described problem, as a typical image forming apparatus, an image printing apparatus including a storage section that stores image data, a checking section that checks a password input by a user, and a print section that performs, when the checking section has authenticated the password, print of the image data is known. The above-described device is characterized by including a password issuance section that issues a password valid for only a single print job to a user. The password is a one time password and is generated on the basis of a machine number of the image forming apparatus and numerical values of a print number counter. The orders of the numerical values are shuffled, as appropriate, thereby increasing a security level. Thus, even when a password is leaked or stolen, printing of a confidential document may be limited.